Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), e.g., sensor networks, have a myriad of applications, such as Smart Grid and Smart Cities. Various challenges are presented with LLNs, such as lossy links, low bandwidth, battery operation, low memory and/or processing capability, etc. One example routing solution to LLN challenges is a protocol called Routing Protocol for LLNs or “RPL,” which is a distance vector routing protocol that builds a Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG, or simply DAG) in addition to a set of features to bound the control traffic, support local (and slow) repair, etc. The RPL architecture provides a flexible method by which each node performs DODAG discovery, construction, and maintenance.
Commonly, wireless sensors utilize mesh networks to communicate with a head-end node (e.g., data collector) and with each other. That is, each sensor (e.g., smart meter) can act as a node in the mesh, where nodes in LLN mesh networks either originate or forward packets over the air. Broadcast messages are commonly used by mesh networks in scenarios such as demand response (DR), software upgrade, etc. When a node receives a broadcast packet it first verifies that this is a new packet (a packet which the node is seeing for the first time). If the packet is found to be a new one, the node retransmits it. However, if the node has already seen this packet, the packet is dropped so as to limit broadcast storm effects. The mass forwarding action by all of the nodes may cause numerous packet collisions resulting in inefficient utilization of the LLN resources. The problem is especially pronounced when node density is high.